Novel method of sealing and testing ampoules



March' 191946 I R. L. WELLS 2,396,728

NOVEL METHOD OF SEALING AND. TESTING AMPOULES Filed Sept. 9, 1943 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS y FAA PH .L WELLS' Q ?,g a PQM ATTORNEY March 19, 1946. R. L. WELLS NOVEL METHOD OF SEALING AND TESTING `AMPOULES Filed sept. 9, 1945 3 sheets-511661 2 /PMPmu E INVENTORS RALPH J1/1.45

f BY

yf. P ATTORNEY March 19, 1946. v R. l.. WELLS NOVEL METHOD OF SEALING AND TESTING AMPOULES' Filed sept. 9, 1945 5 snags-sheet 5- gNvENToRS HLPH WELLIS @1% M ATTORNEY v Patented Mar. 19, 1946 NovEL METHOD oF sEALmG AND TESTING AmoULEs Ralph L. Wem, steam, N. J., assignor tq Jaimson & Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Application September 9, 1943, Serial No. 501,631

(Cl. 49-7-79) L for a plurality of ampoules to be sealed. Also 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel method of sealing and testing vitreous ampoulesand more particularly to a novel method of -sealing and testing vitreous ampoulescomposed of glass or the like and containing a liquid therein.

Heretofore, ampoules composed of glass or the like, and having a liquid therein, have been hery metically sealed to prevent the exposure of any substance in the ampoule to the outside ambient. In the eld of surgical sutures, the sealed ampoule contains therein, a suture immersed in a liquid which preserves the suture and maintains it in the proper flexible condition. In this particular field, the ampoules are sealed so that said.

liquid may be maintained within the ampoule in the course of transportation, to prevent evaporation thereof and to maintain sterile the contents thereof.

For some time it has been the practice to ameseal the ends of glass tubes containing a'liquid in which are immersed surgical sutures. For this purpose, machines have been employed. The United States Patent 2,258,408 of October 7, 1941, and issued to Frank Cozzoli, discloses a machine for that purpose. In the operation of that. machine, the open ends of the ampoules, containing a liquid having surgical sutures immersed therein, are name-sealed. Due to variations in the'thickness of the walls ofthe ampoules, variations in the diameter of the ampoules, the variations in flame temperature in the course of an eight hours run, adjustments in `the sealing flames must sometimes be made in order that the seals may meet a certain specification so that the sealed ampoules may be transported without breakage at the seal in the course of transportation. Adjustment vof the ames would be required vwhen the thickness of the seals of said ampoules was below that required to provide a sturdy ampoule.

In the use of said machines, the operator would.

not be aware ofthe seals which would not pass inspection until after a large batch of thin sealed ampoules came off .of the machine and carried on said support are a plurality of llame jets which rotate with said support and seal the open ends of the ampoules. A stationary automatically voperable seal testing mechanism is located adjacent to and beyond the sealingstation, to exert pressure automatically on the sealed end of each ampoule after sealing so that if the seal is too thin, the same will fracture, putting the operator immediately on notice that the particular flame for sealing this ampoule should be checked. When the seals withstand 2o These'as well as other objects of this invention' was apprized of this by the inspector. vBecause v of this, a large number of thin sealed ampoules would be made and would have to be discarded. In addition, it would then become necessary for the operator to check each jet individually in an effort to determine which ofthe names might require individual attention.

It was in order to overcome the foregoing disadvantages and also to provide certain other advantages that the following invention was made. Briefly the sealing and testing machine of this invention comprises a rotatable support said pressure, they 4are not veffected by said testing mechanism. The seal-fractured tubes are discarded, the others are packed since they have met thetest and the operator immediately takes the necessary step to prevent recurrence of the thin sealing at that name-jet.

A specic object of this invention is to provide a' novel and relatively simple method for testing a sealed ampoule.

Another object of this invention is to provide a. novel method for sealing and testing an ampoule containing a surgical suture.

will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises ,the sev eral steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction,

combination ofelements and arrangement lof' parts which are adapted to effect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indi-L cated in the claims. .Y

Referring to the drawings:

-Figure l is a-dlagrammatic view showing Ithe various successive' steps of a sealing and testing machine embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing the position of the test device as the upper sealed end of the ampoule reaches the same for test.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 andshows the position of the test device at its highest posi` tion in the course of testing the sealed end of the ampoule. v

Figure 4 is a view similar' to Figure 3 and shows the fracturlng of the sealed end of the ampoule when it is of insufcient strength.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of a portion of Figure 1 and shows the testing mechanism and its relation with respect to the ampoule being tested. Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken on line VI-VI of Figure 5.

Figure l is an enlarged'sectional view taken online VII-VIIof Figure 5. Y

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail view of some of the parts shown in Figures 5, 6. and '1.

As shown in the drawings there is a turntable ill rotatably mounted on a stationary vertical shaft II. The turntable I0. which is disposed horizontally, may be driven at constant speed -by through openings in turntable Iii. Secured to the ends of theshafts secured to rollers i3 and i4 are gears I and i6 respectively. A stationary frame or support I8 to which is secured the shaft iI, has a stationary-gear segment I1 secured thereto. The stationary gear I1 meshes with the gears I6 and I6 todrive the rollers IS-and i4 during rotation of the turntable Ill. Each holding device` l2 includes also a third rollerqillocated adjacent and in front of the other two rollers I3 and I4. The roller I6 is rotatably mounted on the outside end of a pivoted arm 20 having a cam follower 2i at its other end. 'I'he arm 26 hasa 'spring 23 which tends to maintain the roller I6 against an ampoule located between said roller and rollers I3 and I4. The cam follower 2| engages a stationary cam 22?v and is maintained in contact therewith by spring 23. Located inwardly from each holding device I2 and on the radius vpiste el has a slot in the rear portion thereof and a pair of upstanding ears B3 at its forward portion. of the base plate 5I which abuts against the lower face ofthe body 56, and theears 63 are located in thelcut outat the lower front portion of body 60. I'he rear plate l2 abuts against the rear face of the body 6l.' The block 34 is mounted on standard 33 `and its verticalv position thereon may be varied by loosening the'set screw 36'. Upon tightening said set screw in' the opening in the side of the block 34it may be maintained in any desired position. 'I'he block 34 extends inwardly towards the shaft II and terminates a material distance outside ofthe path of travel oi. the ampoules. The block 34 has a recess into which extends an elongated arm 36 whose outer Y end is pivoted to said block and whose inner end from the center oi shaft II and passing through the Vcenter" of holding device I2 is an opening through turntable i6 through which extends a guide post- 24 secured tosaid turntable I0. Each 'post 24 guides a gas 'flame Jet 25 carried at the outer end'of an arm 26 whose inner end is pivoted to a collar 21. The collar 21 is freely mounted for rotation about the fixed shaft I I. This collar 21 moves in unison with the turntable ill by virtue of a connection of the arm 26 with a slide collar 2l on guide 24. The inner endl of each arm 26 has a cam follower 26 riding on a stationary cam M fixedly mounted on stationary shaft II. On the upper end of each post .24 is supported a grip finger mechanism, with only grip fingers 3i shown for automatically removingithe excess glass in the course of sealing. A

The foregoing has been illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the drawings and has been briefly described because it is not in itself the infvention. A Adetailed description and illustration of a sealing machine of this type is'disclosed in said Cozzoli patent.

According to this invention, a scali testing de vice 32 is mounted in a iixed position. The testing device 32, as shown for the purposes of illustration,zconsists of an upstanding standard 33' flxedly secured to the stationary frame I8. Mounted on said standard is a three element metallic block 34 shown in detail in Figure 8 and in assembly in Figure 7. Three .element metallic block comprises a main body 50, a base plate 6I and a rear holding plate .52. The body 5u has a slot Il' in the rear portion thereof and this slot is adapted to accommodate the supporting standard 33. The forward portion of the body has its lower corner cut away and its upper portion has a spring accommodating opening.v The base is free. A coiled spring 31 is located in another recess in said block and has its lower end bearing against said arm 36 and its upper end bears against a washer I1' at the lower end of a bolt or screw 3f making threaded connection with said block. The degree of force applied to said arm 36 may be varied by raising and lowering the bolt 33. A bolt or screw 39 makes threaded connection with the block and extends upwardly to the lower face of thearm 36 and limits the extreme lower position of the arm 36. The arm 26 extends inwardly towards the shaft II and terminates outwardly from the path of the posts 24 during rotation of the turntable, but extends inwardly as tobe located above the path of the ampoules held by the holding devices I2 and preferably somewhat inside of the path of said devicesI2. The inner ends of the arms 36 may have a free rotatable rollerA 40 composed of any desirable material, such asrubber or-the like thereon. A'

The operation of this machine is as follows: After the motor has been started, the turntable I0 is rotating, the gas flame from jets 26 have been properly adjusted, the height of arm 36, the

force of spring 31 and the screw 33 set, the operator takes an ampoule, which maybe composed of glass and having one end open, containing a sur-4 gical suture immersed in a liquid. Thisampoule is placed in aV holding device I2 as that holding device passes between station H and A as the turntable rotates in the directionof the arrow.'

Upon continued rotation ofjthe turntable I0, the flame jet 25 adjacent, this particular holding device I2 is automatically lowered and while the ampoule is rotating between rollers I3 and I4 while at the same time moving with turntable I Il, the flame from jet 26 is applied against the upper side wall of this ampoule. As this occurs, the next succeeding holding device I2 moves between said stations H and A and the operator places an ampoule in this holding device and in like manner, the name from ,iet 25 adjacent Athereto is automatically lowered and the ampoule is subjected to the same action as the previous ampoule. This particular step of ampoule insertion is repeated by the operator as the holding the flame is applied to the upperend of the ampoule which is rotated by .rollers i3 and i4. These ampoules pass station C where the name is still applied by iet 25 and the grip lingers 3i The standard I3 is located in the slot..

D and E and between which\ stations the sealing takes place. Asthe turntable advances from station D, the cam 30 acting against follower 29 starts raising the jet 25 upwardly beyond the upper limit of the ampoule. As the ampoule passes the station F, the excess glass is ejected from grip ngers 3|. The seal of the ampoule which Ahas not been in contact with the time from jet 25 from the station E is suiiiciently cooled as it reachesl station G where the seal testing device is at a fixed location during rotation of the turntable i0. As the sealed ampoule reaches station G, the sealed end of the ampoule is automatically tested thereby. In the course of rotation of the turntable l0, there is a force applied downwardly on the seal in the direction ofthe vertical axis of the ampoule while the ampoule is still supported by the turntable and moving therewith. This action is shown in Figures l, 2, 3 and 4. As the ampoule reaches station'G, the outer end spring pressed arm 36 is pushed upwardly Ialong the upper end of the seal and if the seal is of at least the desired strength, the force of the roller on the sealwill not cause any fracture'thereof as shown in Fig-ure 3, but lif too thin" and below the desired strength, it will fracture as shown in Figure 4. In either case the tested ampoules are carried by the rotating turntable lil to the station H where the ampoules are removed from the machine. By employing this particular combination, there is provided a continuous process for sealing and testing ampoules. The operator merely feeds theampoules into the holding devices between stations H and A and removes the sealed and tested tubes between stations G and H. In this manner as shown, the ampoules are supplied to a continuously rotating turntable with the ampoules being continuously maintained in a single file, spaced relationship. The ampoules travel in a fixed curvilinear path in which they are automatically sealed and there.

after are automatically subjected to a downward pressure at the seal while the ampoules are in that path, after they leave the sealing zone and while the rotation of the turntable is continued and they are supported thereon. By employing the novel method and combination herein disclosed, only those ampoules which are not effected i by the testing device are packed, whilethose which are fractured due to thin seals are discarded and when the thin seals occur, the operator is immediately put on notice that some correction must be. made.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process and in the constructions set forth, which embody the invention, may be made without departing from its scope, it is intended that all l matter containedin the above description or shown in theaccompanying -drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is-also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all the generic and specific features` of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which as a matter oflanguage might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim: 1. The method comprising moving a plurality of ampoules in spaced relationship, successively and in a substantially fixed path, heat sealing the end of each of said ampoules in the course of said movement and while in a predetermined part of said path and applying a force downwardly on the seal of each of said ampoules after said sealing as Said sealed ampoules successively travel in said path and spaced relationship and out of said part of said path.

'2. The method comprising moving a' plurality of ampoules in' spaced relationship, successively and in a curvilinear sealing the end of each of said ampoules in the course of said movement and while in a predepath and then applying force downwardly on the seal of each o! said ampoules after said sealing, while said sealed ampoules are in said path, in spaced relationship and out of said part ot said path. H

RALPH L. WELLS.`

tiy fixed path, heat 

